The reason is trust, not a claim that every Seagate hard drive is unreliable. In a personal account for How-To Geek, author Sydney Butler says a past controversy involving Seagate’s 3TB Barracuda ST3000DM001—and the company’s response to reported failures—changed how Butler views the brand. Butler says a Seagate 8TB Expansion drive is still part of their 20TB collection, used for replaceable Plex media rather than critical files.
Why Butler avoids buying Seagate
“The simple reason? It’s trust,” Butler writes in the How-To Geek article. That is a personal buying boundary shaped by a particular past experience and controversy—not proof that all Seagate drives are bad. Butler’s reported 20TB inventory and use of one Seagate external drive are the author’s account, not independently verified facts.
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The distinction matters: someone may decide that a company has lost their confidence even when the evidence does not support a blanket verdict on every product it sells. Butler’s stated approach is also selective: the Seagate drive they say they still own holds media that can be replaced, not mission-critical data.
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The article cites Backblaze data about two specific models. Backblaze reported a 43.1% annualized failure rate for the 3TB Barracuda ST3000DM001 in 2015. It also reports a 2.6% rate for new Seagate 4TB ST4000DM000 drives installed by Backblaze; the article does not establish the publication year for that second figure. These are model-specific results from a storage fleet, not current failure rates for Seagate as a brand or predictions for an individual drive.
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That context is essential. Fleet statistics describe observed groups operating under particular conditions. They can help identify patterns, but a model’s historical rate does not tell a buyer the odds that a particular new drive will fail. Nor does a poor result for one model automatically transfer to another Seagate model, especially one built and sold years later.
What the lawsuit establishes
The litigation discussed in Butler’s account concerned allegations about the ST3000DM001. The court record includes allegations of high failure rates, but the court denied renewed class certification because establishing class-wide claims would require individualized analysis. That procedural decision is not a finding that Seagate drives generally—or every ST3000DM001—were defective.
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- Easy-to-use desktop hard drive—simply plug in the power adapter and USB cable
- Fast file transfers with USB 3.0
- Drag-and-drop file saving right out of the box
- Automatic recognition of Windows and Mac computers for simple setup (Reformatting required for use with Time Machine)
- Enjoy peace of mind with the included limited warranty and Rescue Data Recovery Services
It is reasonable for a past controversy and the company’s handling of it to affect an individual’s willingness to buy. But that personal judgment should not be confused with what the court decided or with a finding about the reliability of today’s entire product range.
How newer fleet analysis compares drive makers
A 2026 analysis of Backblaze data adjusted for factors including drive age, capacity, form factor, and temperature. As Butler summarizes it, HGST drives performed best in the study’s dataset; WD’s estimated failure rate was 52% of Seagate’s, while Toshiba’s was 107% of Seagate’s. Those percentages compare manufacturer-level estimates within that analysis. They are not the probability that a retail drive from one of these brands will fail, and they do not forecast a specific buyer’s experience.
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- Easy-to-use desktop hard drive—simply plug in the power adapter and USB cable
- Fast file transfers with USB 3.3
- Drag-and-drop file saving right out of the box
- Automatic recognition of Windows and Mac computers for simple setup (Reformatting required for use with Time Machine)
- Enjoy peace of mind with the included limited warranty and Rescue Data Recovery Services
The comparison is useful as one piece of context, not as a shortcut for choosing a current consumer hard drive. Its underlying data comes from a fleet environment, and the study’s adjustments cannot make that sample equivalent to every workload, model, or retail-use condition.
What Backblaze’s current fleet report adds
Backblaze’s Q2 2026 report gives a fleet-wide quarterly annualized failure rate of 1.73%, alongside model-level statistics. That figure describes Backblaze’s own fleet and operating conditions. It is not a brand-wide consumer rate and should not be read as the expected annual failure rate for a drive bought at retail.
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- Easy-to-use desktop hard drive—simply plug in the power adapter and USB cable
- Fast file transfers with USB 3.2
- Drag-and-drop file saving right out of the box
- Automatic recognition of Windows and Mac computers for simple setup (Reformatting required for use with Time Machine)
- Enjoy peace of mind with the included limited warranty and Rescue Data Recovery Services
Model-level fleet data and adjusted manufacturer comparisons can inform a buying decision, but neither replaces checking the exact product. A consumer desktop drive and a data-center drive may differ in workload expectations and operating environment; age and temperature also matter when interpreting reliability samples.
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How to choose a drive without treating brand as a verdict
If you are deciding whether to avoid Seagate or choose WD, Toshiba, or another manufacturer, compare the specific drives you can actually buy. Start with the drive’s intended class and workload, then assess evidence for that model rather than relying only on brand-wide comparisons.
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- Exact model and drive class: Confirm whether it is a consumer desktop, NAS, surveillance, or enterprise drive, and whether its workload suits your use.
- Reliability sample: Check which models, drive ages, and time periods appear in the data. Older fleet results may not describe a current product.
- Operating conditions: Consider capacity, form factor, temperature, and how continuously the drive will run.
- Warranty and price: Compare warranty terms and current price per terabyte for the actual listings available to you.
- Data importance: No brand choice makes a single drive a backup. Keep a separate copy of files you cannot afford to lose.
A Western Digital 20TB internal hard drive may be one search to consider if you want to compare alternatives, but verify the exact model, specifications, seller, stock, and warranty before buying. A brand-level study does not establish that a particular current 20TB product is the right fit.
Is it fair to avoid an entire brand?
As a personal trust decision, yes. A buyer does not have to accept a brand whose past conduct or reputation makes them uncomfortable. As a technical conclusion, however, avoiding every product from one maker is broader than the evidence cited here supports: the historical figures concern particular models, the court matter concerned specific allegations, and the newer analysis summarizes a defined fleet dataset.
Butler’s stance is best understood on those terms: a personal preference rooted in a past controversy, not a claim that all Seagate drives fail or that another brand guarantees better results. For a purchase today, exact model, workload, conditions, warranty, and price are more useful decision points than a brand label alone.
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